East Kentucky Times

There were 344 first grade students enrolled in Johnson County schools in the 2022-23 school year, 23.7% more than the previous year, according to the Kentucky Department of Education.

Porter Elementary School welcomed most of the first grade students in the county, registering 67 students.

Within Johnson County schools, the highest student population was found in 12th grade, with the smallest class sizes seen in preschool.

Statewide, Johnson County ranked 40th in enrollment numbers. It was also ranked 40th the year before.

Despite escaping some of the pandemic's educational disruptions, Kentucky's achievement gaps have remained an issue since 2019. In the eighth-grade reading assessments, for example, Hispanic students scored eight points lower than their white peers, and the gap reached 15 points in math. Black students fared even worse, falling more than 20 points behind and facing a failure rate nearly double that of their white counterparts.

School	# of 1st Grade Students Enrolled	% of Student Body	Total Enrollment
Porter Elementary School	67	15.1%	445
Highland Elementary School	66	14.3%	463
Paintsville Elementary School	61	13.1%	467
W. R. Castle Memorial Elementary School	60	14.3%	421
Central Elementary School	55	14.3%	385
Flat Gap Elementary School	35	15.5%	226